The Dade County Commission met for the July meeting on the 1st, where they discussed and voted on an amendment to an ordinance that regulates not only public parades and events, but now private affairs as well. The amendment passed its first-reading vote during Thursday’s meeting, and would go into effect contingent upon passing a second time, but the change wasn’t without opposition.
An amendment was proposed for Ordinance No. 11-05-09 that would extend the “Parade and Special Event” ordinance to include “any organized activity having as its purpose entertainment, recreation, fund raising, and/or education, which takes place on a public street, sidewalk, or right-of-way, or occurs on private property and impacts government services on public rights of way or which may impact the health, safety or welfare of the public generally because of the nature of the assembly.”
Though much was discussed at Thursday’s meeting; the topic that took up a vast amount of the time couldn’t be found on the agenda. The Valley Vibes Music & Arts Festival was a major focus of the evening’s affairs centered around the change in the ordinance.
The Valley Vibes Music & Arts Festival is nothing new to our county. In fact, it started in our own Jenkin’s Park. Proudly, they have claimed they are bringing the “the largest locals-only music and arts festival ever assembled in the Chattanooga region” back to its roots in Dade County. Co-founders Nathaniel McDaniel and Adam Gann not only hail from Dade County themselves, but just last month presented a detailed account of the production of the festival to this Commission.
Commissioner Phillip Hartline (District 2) had this to say: “My personal opinion is that this has come up due to asking about the sale of alcohol at the event that was gonna take place in Wildwood.” He then turned to County Attorney Robin Rogers and asked, “If we approve this tonight… Since they have already came and talked about [The Valley Vibes Festival] down there, would this keep them from having it?” The attorney assured him that no, this would not give the County Commission the authority to block the festival. Hartline went on to clarify; “Prior to [the change in ordinance], it did not state ‘Private Property’; am I correct?” “Yes,” said Rogers. Hartline further reiterated that he was not currently good with the amendment due to the inclusion of dictating what could and could not be done on private property. “When you start dealing with private property, we’re overstepping our bounds on that situation,” said Hartline.
Executive Commissioner Ted Rumley went on to explain his pro-amendment stance; “If you have anything like that that’ll affect a county or state road, you gotta have something like [the proposed amendment] or it’ll be unsafe… This is why we spend millions of dollars for EMA, Officers, Firefighters, etc… It’s a matter of public safety
Commissioner Robert Goff (District 3): “To me, it’s a matter of the whole safety of where they’re going to have [the festival].” “Whether they have alcohol or not, is what you’re saying,” Rumley added. “Yeah, where there’s a state highway with a railroad involved,” finished Goff. Commissioner Lamar Lowrey (District 4); “And it’s not just any public property. It has to affect a county right-of-way or–” Commissioner Hartline interrupted, “Well, I mean you’ve got to get to that property somehow. So you’re going to come off a county road or a state road. So that’s going to affect any property that wants to do something.”
To Commissioner Hartline’s point, The American Road & Builder’s Association estimates that roughly 97% of all of America’s roads are under state or local government control. If Dade County follows national average, this would effectively mark 97% of all private properties in Dade County as falling under this ordinance. As Commissioner Goff pointed out in Thursday’s meeting, this would not only include events like Valley Vibes; but also weddings, birthday parties, family reunions, rodeos, and any number of private events. Any citizen of Dade County wishing to have a gathering over any size would be subject to gaining a permit for their event.
“In my opinion, it isn’t our responsibility to control all the factors this ordinance covers,” finished Hartline. “We don’t have enough information for our permit application for [this amendment] for me to even consider this.”
The 1st-reading vote for the ordinance amendment passed, 3-1 (Rumley, Goff, Lowery in favor; Hartline against – Commissioner Melissa Bradford was not present at the meeting). The final vote to pass the proposed amendment will take place on the 8/5 meeting; as well as the vote on the alcohol ordinance requested originally by the Valley Vibes coordinators is expected.
In other news, Dr. Tom Ford of the Lookout Mountain Community Serviced announced his retirement and welcomed Heather Roesner, previously the Corporate Compliance Officer, as the new C.E.O.
Don Townsend announced the dates for the public hearings to discuss Dade County’s changes in millage rate (tax rate based on 1/1000th of a dollar): 8/4 at 11AM and 6PM and 8/12 at 6PM, and a special called meeting to announce Dade’s 5-year tax history on 8/16 at 6:30PM.
By Orey Yates
Link to the agenda and the Ordinance No. 11-05-09
https://simbli.eboardsolutions.com/SB_Meetings/ViewMeeting.aspx?S=36031032&MID=573
The Dade County Commission meeting as posted on there YouTube channel. we understand they had technical issues and part of the meeting was not captured.
